Former Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey takes testimony at UFO hearing

Rep. Lynn Woolsey extends her arms out as she throws the crowd two big kisses after announcing her retirement from congress in front of a crowd of supporters, politicians, and the press during a press conference in her backyard in Petaluma on Monday afternoon June 27, 2011. (Special to the IJ/Scott Manchester)
Scott Manchester

Lynn Woolsey is one of six former members of Congress taking testimony at a public hearing this week at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on what the U.S. government really knows about extraterrestrial life.

Woolsey, a Democrat who until this year represented Marin and Sonoma counties, is attending the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, an event organized by the Paradigm Research Group — a UFO conspiracy-theory group based in Bethesda, Md.

"The Citizen Hearing on Disclosure of an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race will attempt to accomplish what the Congress has failed to do for 45 years — seek out the facts surrounding the most important issue of this or any other time," according to the hearing's website: www.citizenhearing.org.

Also plumbing the final frontier's mysteries this week are former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska; and former Reps. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md.; Merrill Cook, R-Utah; Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.; and Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich.

The multiday hearing, which started Monday and ends Friday, promises testimony from about 40 researchers, military officials and other witnesses. It's being live-streamed in English and Spanish — but it's viewable only after paying a $3.80 subscription fee.

"Am I here to become a believer? No way," Woolsey said Wednesday. "The issue is transparency in government. They could not have picked a better example for how our government classifies information that should be public knowledge and covers up things they know."

So does Woolsey believe the Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials?

"I have no sense one way or the other if we have been," Woolsey said. "I do believe we don't know, and I believe the government knows, and they aren't telling anybody."

The Paradigm Research Group, founded by activist Stephen Bassett, invited the former lawmakers to use their House- and Senate-honed skills in interviewing witnesses.

Woolsey is being paid a $20,000 honorarium to participate in the five-day hearing. "Which is what most retired members get for a one-hour speech," Woolsey said.

In November 2011, the White House answered a pair of petitions seeking disclosure of information

on extraterrestrial life — including a petition launched by Bassett — by stating that "the U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race. In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye."

Woolsey, 75, retired last year after 10 terms in the House. She was succeeded by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.